George Eastman (1854-1932)
George Eastman is an American inventor who made significant advances in photography. He is credited with creating many photographic innovations such as easy to use cameras, film and dry plates. His inventions earned him quite a bit of money through the years and he generously donated funds to universities, charities, public institutions and business development projects.
When he bought a camera at age 24 in anticipation of going on a vacation that didn't end up occurring, he found himself interested in the ideas behind photography. He thought that the camera was heavy and expensive for what it did and he began experimenting with gelatine emulsions as an alternative way to develop negatives. It took him three years of trying various procedures in his mother's kitchen to get the results he was looking for.
George Eastman eventually invented and patented a machine that developed negatives using a dry plate coating process. This process allowed the photographs to have a quicker developing time than the former wet method of developing photographs. The Eastman Dry Plate Company was created in 1881 and George Eastman had a financial partner named Henry Strong. Four years later, the company name was changed to the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company as Eastman's company had invented and patented rolled film.
It wasn't until 1892 that the word, Kodak, became a part of George Eastman's company, as that year the company name was changed to the Eastman Kodak Company. Eastman had invented the name Kodak for his camera after